Wheeler,  William  Morton 
The  Ants  of  Alaska 


Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology 

AT   HARVARD   COLLEGE. 
VOL.  LX1".    No.  2. 


THK    ANTS   OF    ALASKA. 


BY    \YlJ,UAM    MoUTON    WlIKKLKR. 


CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.,  U.  S.  A.: 
PRINTED   FOR  THE   MUSEUM. 

I'.MT. 


REPORTS  ON  THE  SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  THE  EAST- 
ERN  TUOPICAL  PACIFIC,  IN  CHARGE  OF  ALEXANDER  AGASSIZ,  BY  THE 
U.  S.  FISH  COMMISSION  STEAMER  "ALBATROSS,"  FROM  OCTOBER,  1904, 
TO  MARCH,  1905,  LIEUTENANT  COMMANDER  L.  M.  GARRETT,  U.  S.  X., 
COMMANDING,  PUBLISHED  OR  IN  PREPARATION:  — 


A.  AGASSIZ.     V.3  General  Report  on  the 

Expedition. 

A.    AGASSIZ.     I.i  Three  Letters   to   Geo. 

M.  Bowers,  U.  S.  Fish  Com. 

A.    AGASSIZ    and  H.    L.    CLAHK.     The 

Echini. 

H.  B.  BIGELOW.  XVI.*     The  Medusae. 

H.   B.   BIGELOW.  XXIII.a     The   Sipho- 

nophores. 

H.   B.    BIGELOW.  XXVI.=»     The   Cteno- 


P.  BIGELOW.     The  Stomatopods. 

CARLGREN.     The  Actinaria. 

V.  CHAMBERLIN.     The    Annelids. 

L.  CLARK.     The  Holothurians. 

L.  CLARK.     The  Starfishes. 

L.  CLARK.     The  Ophiurans. 

F.  CLARKE.    VIII.8    The  Hydroids. 
.  R.  COE.     The  Nemerteans. 

J.  COLE.     XIX.i*     The  Pycnogonida. 
.  H.  DALL.     XIV."    The  Mollusks. 

R.    EASTMAN.      VIL'      The    Sharks- 
Teeth. 

CARMAN.     XII.i?     The  Reptiles. 
.   J.   IIANSEN.     The   Cirripeds. 
.  J.   IIANSEN.      XXVII."      The  Schizo- 
pods. 

HENSHAW      The  Insects. 
.  E.  HOYLE.     The  Cephalopods. 
.   C.   KENDALL  and  L.   RADCLIFFE. 
\  \  \  .       The  Fishes. 


C    A.    KOFOID.     III.*     IX.«    XX.»     The 

Protozoa. 
C.   A.   KOFOID   and  J.   R.   MICHENER. 

XXII.=2    The  Protozoa, 
i    C.    A.     KOFOID    and    E.    J.     RIGDEN. 

XXIV.2'    The  Protozoa. 
P.  K  RUMBACH.     The  Sagittae. 
R.  VON   LENDENFELD.       XXI."-'      The 

Siliceous  Sponges. 
R.      VON      LENDENFELD.          XXI \.  » 

Hcxactinellida. 

:    G.  W.  MULLER.     The  Ostracods. 
JOHN  MURRAY  and  G.  V.  LEE.     XVII." 

The  Bottom  Specimens. 

MARY    J.    RATHBUN.     X.'O     The    Crus- 
tacea Decapoda. 
HARRIET   RICHARDSON.        II.-        The 

Isopods. 

W.  E.   RITTER.     IV."     The  Tunicate. 
B.  L.  ROBINSON.     The  Plants. 
G.  O.  SARS.     The  Copepods. 
F.   E.   SCHULZE.     XL"    The   Xeiiophyo- 

phoras. 
HARRIET  R.  SEARLE.     XXVIII.=«     Iso- 

pods. 

H.  H.  SIMROTH.     Pteropods,  Heteropods. 
'    E.  C.  STARKS.     XIII."    Atelaxia. 
TIL  STUDER.     The  Alcyonaria. 
JH.     THIELE.     XV.is     Bathysciadium. 
,    T.  W.  VAUGHAN.     VI."    The  Corals. 
:    R.   WOLTERECK.       XVIII."      The   Am- 

phipods. 


1  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLVL,  No.  4,  April,  1905,  22  pp. 

2  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLVL,  No.  6,  July,  1905,  4  pp.,  1  pi. 

^  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLVL,  No.  9,  September,  1905,  5  pp.,  1  pi. 
<  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLVL,  No.  13,  January,  1906,  22  pp.,  3  pis. 

M.-rn.   M .  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XXXIII.,  January,  1906,  90  pp.,  96  pis. 
"  Bull.     \1 .  C.  /.,  Vol.  L.,  No.  3,  August,  1906,  14  pp.,  10  pis. 
7  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  L.,  No.  4,  November,  1906,  26  pp.,  4  pis. 

*  Mom.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XXXV.,  No.  1,  February,  1907,  20  pp.,  15  pis. 
»  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  L.,  No.  6,  February,  1907,  48  pp.,  18  pis. 

in  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  X  \  \  \  ,  \o.  L'.  Xu-usl,  19(17,  56  pp.,  9  pis. 

"Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LI.,  No.  ii,  November,  1907,  22  pp.,  1  pi. 

12  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIL,  No.  1,  June,  1'JOs,  It  pp.,  1  pi. 

"  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIL.  No.  2,  July,  1908,  8  pp.,  5  pis. 

"  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLIIL,  No.  6,  October,  1908,  285  pp.,  22  pis. 

i*  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIL,  No.  5,  October,  1908,  11  pp.,  2  pis. 

»  Mem.  M.  C.  /.,  Vol.  XXXVII. ,  February,  1909,  243  pp.,  48  pis. 

»  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XXXVIII.,  No.  1,  June,  1909,  172  pp.,  5  pis.,  3  maps. 

i"  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIL,  No.  9,  June,  1909,  26  pp.,  8  pis. 

i»  Bull.     M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIL,  No.  11,  August,  1909,  10  pp.,  3  pis. 

=o  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIL,  No.  13,  September,  1909,  48  pp.,  4  pis. 

21  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLL,  August,  September,  1910,  323  pp..  56  pis. 

**  Bull     M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIV.,  No.  7,  August,  1911,  38  pp. 

=s  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XXXVIII.,  No.  2,  December,  1911,  232  pp.,  32  pis. 

»« Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIV.,  No.  10,  February.  1912,  16  pp.,  2  pis. 

*  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XXXV.,  No.  3,  April,  1912,  98  pp.,  8  pis. 
»  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LIV,  No.  12,  April,  1912,  38  pp.,  2  pis. 

*  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XXXV.,  No.  4,  July,  1912,  124  pp.,  12  pis. 
3"  Bull.    M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  LVIIL,  No.  8,  August,  1914,  14  pp. 

M  Mem.  M.  C.  Z.,  Vol.  XLII.,  June,  1915,  397  pp.,  109  pis. 


Bulletin  of  the  Museum,  of  Comparative  Zoology 

AT  HARVARD   COLLEGE. 

VOL.  LXI.    No.  2. 


THE  ANTS  OF  ALASKA. 


BY  WILLIAM  MORTON  WHEELEK. 


CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.,  U.  S.  A.: 

PRINTED   FOR  THE   MUSEUM. 

MARCH,   1917. 


M 

r? 


No.  2.—  The  Ants  of  Alaska. 

CONTRIBUTIONS    FROM    THE    ENTOMOLOGICAL   LABORATORY    OF   THE 

BUSSEY  INSTITUTION,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,  NO.  126. 
BY  WILLIAM  MORTON  WHEELER. 

OUR  knowledge  of  the  Formicidae  of  Alaska  has  been  of  very  slow 
growth,  probably  because  most  of  the  collectors  who  have  ventured 
into  that  extensive  region  have  found  ants  too  scarce  and  inconspicu- 
ous to  merit  serious  attention.  In  1899  Prof.  Trevor  Kincaid,  while 
accompanying  the  Harriman  Alaska  Expedition,  secured  a  number  of 
specimens  of  five  species  which  were  recorded  by  Pergande  (Proc. 
Wash.  acad.  sci.,  1900,  2,  p.  519-521)  as  Formica  neorufibarbis  Emery, 
Lasius  niger  Linne  subsp.  sitkaensis  Pergande,  Leptothorax  yankee 
Emery  var.  kincaidi  Pergande,  Myrmica  sabuleti  Meinert  var.  lobifrons 
Pergande  and  Myrmica  sulcinodoides  Emery.  Three  of  these  were 
new  to  science,  but  unfortunately  Pergande's  descriptions  of  them  are 
inadequate  and  puzzling,  and  although  the  types  (No.  5277-5279) 
were  cited  as  being  in  the  U.  S.  N.  M.,  Mr.  S.  A.  Rohwer,  after  careful 
search  has  been  unable  to  find  them,  and  I  have  failed  to  find  any 
cotypes  in  Pergande's  private  collection,  which  was  acquired  by  the 
Museum  after  his  death.  Within  recent  years  I  have  recorded  Myr- 
mica brevinodis  Emery  var.  alaskensis  Wheeler,  Formica  fusca  Linne 
var.  gelida  Wheeler  and  Camponotus  herculeanus  Linne  var.  whymperi 
Forel  from  Alaska.  During  the  summer  of  1916  Mr.  J.  A.  Kusche 
of  Eldridge,  California,  kindly  collected  a  considerable  number  of 
ants  for  me  in  several  Alaskan  localities  and  in  the  adjacent  Yukon 
territory  of  British  America.  Among  the  material  I  find  three  forms 
not  hitherto  recorded  from  these  regions,  so  that  the  total  known  to 
date  is  twelve.  They  represent,  however,  only  seven  species:  Myr- 
mica brevinodis,  M.  scabrinodis,  Leptothorax  acervorum,  Lasius  niger, 
Formica  sanguinea,  F.  fusca,  and  Camponotus  herculeanus,  all  well- 
known  from  the  boreal  portions  of  Europe  and  Asia,  except  Myrmica 
brevinodis,  which  might,  in  fact,  be  regarded  as  a  subspecies  of  the 
Eurasian  M.  sulcinodis.  Four  of  the  varieties  seem  to  be  peculiar 
to  Alaska,  but  all  the  other  forms  range  widely  through  British  America 
and  southward  into  the  United  States  along  the  higher  slopes  of  the 
Sierra-Cascade  and  Rocky  Mountains.  The  specimens  collected  by 


16  BULLETIN:  MUSEUM  OF  COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

Mr.  Kusche  at  Fort  Yukon,  Nulato,  and  Rampart  (64°-67°  N.  L.) 
are  of  unusual  interest,  because,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
specimens  of  Leptothorax  kincaidi  taken  by  Mr.  F.  H.  Whitney  on 
the  Upper  Kugarok  River,  near  Nome,  and  recorded  in  my  paper  on 
the  mountain  ants  of  western  North  America  (Proc.  Amer.  acad.  sci., 
1917,  62,  p.  512),  no  American  ants  had  previously  been  found  so  far 
north.  Fort  Yukon,  the  remotest  of  the  localities,  is,  in  fact,  situated 
on  the  Arctic  Circle,  which,  I  believe,  may  safely  be  taken  as  the 
extreme  northern  limit  of  our  ant  fauna.  Owing  to  the  important 
bearing  of  all  the  elements  of  the  Alaskan  biota  on  questions  of  geo- 
graphical distribution  and  on  the  question  of  a  former  Alaskan-Siberian 
land-bridge  in  particular,  it  seems  advisable  to  publish  a  brief  anno- 
tated list  of  the  known  Alaskan  Formicidae  together  with  a  record  of 
the  various  localities  in  which  they  were  collected. 


1.    MYRMICA  BREVINODIS  Emery  var.  SULCINODOIDES  Emery. 

Pergande  records  this  form  from  Sitka  and  says  that  the  palest 
specimens  in  his  series  agreed  exactly  with  those  he  saw  from  Hill  City, 
South  Dakota.  The  specimen  from  Homer,  Alaska  (A.  Mehner) 
referred  by  me  to  the  var.  frigida  Forel  (Bull.  Wise.  nat.  hist,  soc., 
1907,  5,  p.  78)  may  be  more  properly  referred  to  suldnodoides.  Indeed, 
I  doubt  whether  frigida  can  be  maintained  as  a  distinct  variety. 
Forel's  var.  whymperi  is  also,  in  my  opinion,  a  synonym  of  suldno- 
doides Emery.  The  latter  is  known  from  higher  elevations,  up  to 
11,000  feet,  in  the  Rockies  of  British  Columbia,  Utah,  Colorado,  and 
New  Mexico  and  in  the  Sierra  Nevada.  In  the  paper  cited  above 
I  called  attention  to  the  peculiar  greenish  yellow  color  of  the  larvae 
of  this  ant  and  their  oily  luster. 


2.    MYRMICA  BREVINODIS  var.  ALASKENSIS  Wheeler. 

Recently  described  from  workers  taken  at  Seward,  on  the  Kenai 
Peninsula  by  Mr.  F.  H.  Whitney  (Proc.  Amer.  acad.  sci.,  1917,  52, 
p.  503) .  Numerous  specimens  from  two  colonies  found  by  Mr.  Kusche 
at  Fort  Yukon  and  in  the  Pynaw  Mts.,  near  Rampart,  also  belong  to 
this  variety. 


WHEELER:  THE  ANTS  OF  ALASKA.  17 


3.    MYRMICA  BREVINODIS  var.  KUSCHEI,  var.  nov. 

Worker.     Length  3-3.5  mm. 

Very  similar  in  sculpture,  pilosity,  and  color  to  the  var.  alaskensis 
but  averaging  somewhat  smaller,  with  shorter  and  straight,  instead 
of  curved,  epinotal  spines,  the  antennal  scapes  very  distinctly  broader 
and  flatter  at  the  base  and  with  the  naiddorsal  portion  of  the  post- 
petiole  smooth  and  shining.  The  clypeus  has  only  about  eight  coarse 
longitudinal  rugae  as  in  alaskensis. 

Female  (deflated).     Length  5.5  mm. 

Much  darker  than  the  worker,  the  head,  thorax,  petiole,  postpetiole, 
and  gaster  being  castaneous,  the  mandibles,  antennae,  and  legs 
brownish  yellow.  Rugae  on  the  body  coarse,  those  on  the  pronotum 
very  coarse  and  vermiculate,  on  the  remainder  of  the  thorax  longi- 
tudinal, finer  on  the  pleurae  than  on  the  mesonotum  and  scutellum. 
Postpetiole  above  without  a  smooth  area,  sharply,  regularly,  and  con- 
centrically rugose,  the  rugae  transverse  at  the  posterior  border.  Sur- 
face of  body  distinctly  more  shining  than  in  the  worker;  pilosity  very 
similar. 

Described  from  a  female  and  twenty-three  workers  taken  by  Mr. 
Kusche  from  a  single  colony  at  Ketchikan. 

The  worker  and  female  of  this  variety  are  readily  distinguished  from 
the  corresponding  phases  of  the  other  described  forms  of  brevinodis 
by  the  peculiar  sculpture  of  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  postpetiole,  the 
sculpture  in  the  worker  recalling  that  of  'Myrmica  scabrinodis  var. 
detritinodis  Emery,  while  the  postpetiolar  rugae  in  the  females  of  the 
other  forms  are  not  regular  and  concentric  but  longitudinal  and 
irregular  or  interrupted. 


4.    MYRMICA  SCABRINODIS  Nylander  subsp.  LOBICORNIS  Nyl.  var. 
LOBIFRONS  Pergande. 

Pergande  described  this  form  as  M.  sabvleti  var.  lobifrons  but  his 
description  is  so  brief  as  to  apply  to  almost  any  small  Myrmica.  He 
says  merely  that  it  measures  3  mm.  and  is  dark  brown  or  black,  with 
the  "mandibles,  antennae,  legs,  sides  of  the  thorax  and  of  the  abdo- 
men more  or  less  distinctly  yellowish  brown,  reddish  brown  or  almost 
black,"  and  adds  that  it  is  "closely  related  to  a  form  .of  Myrmica 
sabuleti  inhabiting  South  Dakota,  but  is  somewhat  larger  and  much 


18  BULLETIN:  MUSEUM  OF  COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

darker,  with  the  sculpturing  of  the  head  and  thorax  coarser  and  the 
hairs  stouter  and  shorter."  He  cites  no  locality  for  the  types  (No. 
5279,  U.  S.  N.  M.),  which  seem  to  be  lost.  As  sabuleti  is  itself  now 
regarded  as  merely  a  variety  of  scabrinodis,  it  is  clear  that  lobifrons 
must  be  referred  to  some  other  form.  I  conjecture  that  it  is  a  variety 
of  lobicornis,  which  I  have  recently  shown  (Proc.  Amer.  acad.  sci., 
1917,  52,  p.  504)  to  be  actually  represented  in  America  by  Forel's 
var.  glacialis  of  the  Rocky  Mts.  and  Sierra  Nevada.  Perhaps  glacialis 
is  merely  a  synonym  of  lobifrons,  but  this  can  be  determined  only  if 
Pergande's  types  are  found  or  by  further  collecting  in  Alaska. 


5.    LEPTOTHORAX  ACERVORUM   Nylander  subsp.    CANADENSIS   Pro- 
vancher  var.  KINCAIDI  Pergande. 

This  variety  was  described  as  L,  yankee  Emery  var.  kincaidi  from  a 
female  and  twelve  workers  taken  by  Professor  Kincaid  at  Metlakahtla. 
I  have  recorded  it  from  the  Upper  Kugarok  River,  near  Nome  (65° 
N.  L.)  where  it  was  taken  by  Mr.  F.  H.  Whitney.  Numerous  workers 
taken  by  Mr.  Kusche  at  Skagway  and  White  Pass  agree  even  more 
closely  with  Pergande's  description,  as  they  are  somewhat  smaller 
and  lack  the  crescentic  black  spot  on  the  pronotum.  Perhaps  the 
more  northern  specimens  should  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  variety. 


6.    LASIUS  NIGER  Linne  var.  SITKAENSIS  Pergande. 

This  form,  not  represented  among  the  specimens  collected  by  Mr. 
Kusche,  was  described  by  Pergande  as  a  subspecies  of  L.  niger  from 
twenty-five  workers  taken  at  Sitka.  As  stated  in  my  recent  paper 
on  the  mountain  ants,  I  believe  it  to  be  identical  with  a  form  which 
I  have  found  to  be  common  throughout  the  Canadian  zone.  Pergande 
mentions  its  similarity  to  Lasius  svhniger  of  Maine  (recte  neoniger 
Emery).  If  I  am  right  in  my  identification  of  the  Alaskan  form  it 
is  merely  a  variety  and  not  a  subspecies  of  the  typical  Eurasian  niger. 


7.    FORMICA  SANGUINEA  Latreille  subsp.  SUBNUDA  Emery. 

Mr.  Kusche  secured  many  workers  of  this  subspecies  from  several 
colonies  at  Skagway  and  White  Pass,  Alaska  and  White  Horse,  Yukon. 


WHEELER:  THE  ANTS  OF  ALASKA.  19 

All  agree  with  the  typical  form  of  the  subspecies  from  the  Canadian 
zone  of  southern  British  America  and  the  United  States  in  lacking 
erect  hairs  on  the  thorax  and  in  having  only  a  very  few  inconspicuous 
hairs  on  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  head.  The  slaves  in  several  of  the 
colonies  were  workers  of  F.  fusca  var.  gelida  and  var.  neorufibarbis. 
Some  of  the  colonies  contained  a  few  small  subnuda  pseudogynes.  If 
Wasmann's  and  Muckermann's  contention  is  correct,  that  pseudogynes 
are  produced  only  as  the  result  of  the  presence  of  staphylinid  beetles 
of  the  tribe  Lomechusini  (species  of  Xenodusa  in  North  America) 
in  the  sanguined  nests,  we  must  suppose  that  these  beetles  range  as 
far  north  as  Alaska.  This  has  not  been  demonstrated,  so  that  my 
suggestion  that  pseudogynes  may  also  be  produced  by  other  causes, 
is  still  worthy  of  consideration,  especially  as  Mr.  Horace  Donisthorpe 
writes  me  that  he  is  also  of  the  opinion  that  pseudogynes  occasionally 
make  their  appearance  in  British  sanguined  colonies  which  have 
never  been  infested  by  lomechusine  parasites. 


8.    FORMICA  FUSCA  Linne. 

A  number  of  workers  taken  by  Mr.  Kusche  at  Fort  Yukon  belong 
to  the  typical  black  form  of  this  species,  which  is  widely  distributed, 
not  only  in  the  Canadian  zone  of  North  America,  as  I  have  shown  in 
previous  articles  (Bull.  M.  C.  Z.,  1913,  53,  p.  496;  Proc.  Amer.  acad. 
sci.,  1917,  52,  p.  545)  but  also  throughout  boreal  Eurasia  as  far  north 
as  latitude  65°. 


9.     FORMICA  FUSCA  var.  MARCIDA  Wheeler. 

I  refer  to  this  variety  a  dealated  female  and  thirty-six  workers  taken 
by  Mr.  Kusche  from  a  single  colony  at  White  Horse,  Yukon,  and  a 
series  of  workers  which  he  took  at  Fort  Yukon,  Alaska.  The  former 
are  fully  as  large  as  the  typical  fusca  and  have  the  mandibles,  antennae, 
and  legs  of  an  even  paler  and  purer  brownish  yellow  color  than  in  the 
types  which  were  taken  in  the  Selkirk  Mts.  of  British  Columbia,  the 
latter  are  much  more  like  the  types  in  size  and  color.  This  variety 
has  also  been  taken  in  Alberta,  Manitoba,  Washington,  and  California 
but  always  in  an  alpine  environment. 


20  BULLETIN:  MUSEUM  OF  COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 


10.    FORMICA  FUSCA  var.  NEORUFIBARBIS  Emery. 

Under  the  name  F.  neorufibarbis  Pergande  included  both  this  and 
the  following  variety.  I  believe  that  only  his  specimens  from  Met- 
lakahtla,  which  he  calls  the  palest  form,  belong  to  neorufibarbis,  those 
from  Sitka  and  Kadiak  being  referable  to  the  var.  gelida.  Mr. 
Kusche  secured  several  series  of  workers  at  Skagway  and  Ketchikan, 
Alaska  and  White  Horse,  Yukon.  The  large  individuals  have  the 
thorax,  petiole,  and  legs  uniformly  red,  without  traces  of  infuscation 
and  are  exactly  like  those  taken  by  myself  during  the  summer  of  1915 
in  the  Canadian  Rockies  and  the  Sierra  Nevada. 


11.    FORMICA  FUSCA  var.  GELIDA  Wheeler. 

The  study  of  a  long  series  of  workers  and  dealated  females  taken  by 
Mr.  Kusche  at  Skagway,  Nulato,  Ketchikan,  and  in  the  Pynaw  Mts., 
near  Rampart,  Alaska,  and  at  White  Horse,  Yukon,  and  of  a  few 
workers  from  Seward  (F.  H.  Whitney)  and  Kasiloff  Lake,  on  the 
Kenai  Peninsula,  shows  that  this  variety  cannot  be  satisfactorily  dis- 
tinguished from  neorufibarbis  except  by  the  color  of  the  larger  workers, 
which  in  gelida  have  the  legs  and  thorax  more  or  less  and  often  deeply 
infuscated.  Darker  specimens  seem  to  pass  over  into  the  typical 
fusca,  while  immature  specimens  are  difficult  to  distinguish  from  the 
var.  marcida. 


12.     CAMPONOTUS  HERCULEANUS  Linne  var.   WHYMPERI  Forel. 

This  variety  is  not  only  widely  distributed  through  the  Canadian 
and  Hudsonian  zones  of  North  America,  but  is  said  to  occur  also  in 
Siberia.  Mr.  Kusche  obtained  numerous  worker  and  female  speci- 
mens from  several  colonies  at  Fort  Yukon,  Skagway,  and  Nulato, 
Alaska  and  White  Horse,  Yukon.  I  have  also  seen  specimens  from 
Kasiloff  Lake,  on  the  Kenai  Peninsula  (Berlin  Museum)  and  Koyukuk 
(W.  J.  Peters).  The  variety  differs  from  the  typical  herculeanus 
merely  in  the  slightly  longer  and  more  abundant,  subappressed  hairs 
on  the  tibiae.  As  I  find  this  character  to  be  inconstant  on  comparison 
of  American-  and  European  specimens,  whymperi  would  seem  to  be  an 
insignificant  if  not  a  spurious  variety. 


WHEELER:  THE  ANTS  OF  ALASKA.  21 

Postscript.— Just  after  correcting  the  first  proof  of  this  paper  Mr. 
S.  A.  Rohwer  informed  me  that  he  had  succeeded  in  finding  in  the 
U.  S.  N.  M.  the  types  of  the  varieties  of  ants  described  by  Pergande 
from  Alaska  and  that  he  was  sending  me  paratypes  of  Lasius  sitkaen- 
sis,  Myrmica  lobifrons,  and  Leptothorax  kincaidi  and  a  couple  of  work- 
ers identified  by  Pergande  as  belonging  to  Myrmica  sulcinodoides. 
The  conclusions  I  have  reached  from  a  study  of  the  specimens  may 
be  briefly  stated: — 

(1).  Myrmica  brevinodis  var.  sulcinodoides  Emery. —  The  speci- 
mens from  Sitka  referred  by  Pergande  to  this  variety  differ  somewhat 
in  color  from  the  form  I  regard  as  typical  sulcinodoides,  as  they  have 
the  head  and  gaster  dark  brown,  instead  of  black,  and  the  remainder 
of  the  body  and  appendages  yellowish  brown  instead  of  deep  red. 
I  should  be  inclined  to  refer  them  to  the  var.  subalpina  Wheeler,  but 
as  Pergande  refers  to  differences  of  color  in  his  series,  the  specimens 
before  me  may  be  somewhat  immature. 

(4).  Myrmica  scabrinodis  subsp.  lobicornis  var.  lobifrons  Per- 
gande.—  The  types  and  paratypes  are  from  Metlakahtla  and  the  two 
of  the  latter  received  from  Mr.  Rohwer  belong  to  different  species 
which  were  not  distinguished  by  Pergande.  One  is  identical  with 
M.  scabrinodis  lobicornis  var.  glacialis  Forel  as  I  find  by  comparison 
with  a  cotype  from  Vermillion  Pass,  Alberta,  received  from  Professor 
Forel  many  years  ago.  The  var.  glacialis  Forel  therefore  becomes 
a  synonym  of  lobifrons  Pergande.  The  other  specimen  belongs  to 
Myrmica  brevinodis  and  agrees  perfectly  with  the  cotypes  of  the  var. 
kuschei  described  above.  That  Pergande  really  based  his  variety  on 
a  specimen  with  the  antennal  scape  toothed  at  the  base,  is  shown  by 
his  attaching  the  form  to  Myrmica  sabuleti. 

(5).  Leptothorax  acervorum  subsp.  canadensis  var.  kincaidi  Per- 
gande. Two  worker  paratypes  from  Metlakahtla  agree  closely  with 
the  specimens  recorded  above  from  Skagway  and  White  Pass  in  size, 
form,  and  sculpture,  but  the  latter  have  the  light  portions  of  the  body 
and  appendages  paler  and  more  reddish  and  there  are  no  traces  of 
infuscation  on  the  thoracic  dorsum  and  the  summits  of  the  petiolar 
and  postpetiolar  nodes.  The  Pergande  specimens  also  have  the  legs 
without  the  short,  erect  or  suberect  hairs  which  are  clearly  visible  in 
the  specimens  taken  by  Mr.  Kusche.  The  latter,  therefore,  are  more 
like  the  typical  canadensis. 

(6).  Lasius  niger  var.  sitkaensis  Pergande. —  The  interpretation 
of  this  variety  given  in  my  recent  paper,  "The  mountain  ants  of 
western  North  America"  (Proc.  Amer.  acad.  sci.  1917,  52,  p.  524), 


22  BULLETIN:  MUSEUM  OF  COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

is  shown  by  a  study  of  two  paratypes  to  be  correct.  The  paratypes 
are  somewhat  larger  and  darker  than  most  of  the  specimens  in  my 
collection  from  boreal  portions  of  the  United  States  and  British 
America,  but  series  from  Flathead  Lake,  Montana  and  Pullman, 
Washington  are  almost  identical  in  size  and  coloration  with  the  para- 
types from  Sitka.  Smaller  and  darker  specimens  grade  into  the  var. 
neoniger  Emery. 


The  following  Publications  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  are 
in  preparation: — 

LOUIS  CABOT.     Immature  State  of  the  Odonata,  Part  IV. 

E.  L.  MARK.     Studies  on  Lepidosteus,  continued. 

E.  L.  MARK.     On  Arachnactis. 

H.  L.  CLARK.     The  "Albatross"  Hawaiian  Echini. 

Reports  on  the  Results  of  Dredging  Operations  in  1877,  1878,  1879,  and  1880,  in  charge  of 
ALEXANDER  AGASSIZ,  by  the  U.  S.  Coast  Survey  Steamer  "Blake,"  as  follows:  — 

A.  MILNE  EDWARDS  and  E.  L.  BOUVIER.     The  Crustacea  of  the  "Blake." 
A.  E.  VERRILL.     The  Alcyonaria  of  the  "  Blake." 

Reports  on  the  Results  of  the  Expedition  of  1891  of  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  Steamer  "  Alba- 
tross," Lieutenant  Commander  Z.  L.  TANNER,  U.  S.  N.,  Commanding,  in  charge  of 
ALEXANDER  AGASSIZ,  as  follows:— r 

K.  BRANDT.     The  Sagittae.  W.  A.  HERDMAN.     The  Ascidians. 

K.  BRANDT.     The  Thalassicolae.  S.  J.  HICKSON.     The  Antipathids. 

O.   CARLGREN.     The  Actinarians.  E.    L.    MARK.     Branchiocerianthns. 

R.  V.  CHAMBERLIN.     The  Annelids.  JOHN    MURRAY.       The    Bottom    Speci- 

W.  R.  COE.     The  Nemerteans.  mens. 

REINHARD  DOHRN.     The  Eyes  of  Deep-        P.    SCHIEMENZ.        The    Pteropods    and 

Sea  Crustacea.  Heteropods. 

H.  J.  HANSEN.     The  Cirripeds.  THEO.  STUDER.     The  Alcyonarbns. 
H.  J.  HANSEN.     The  Schizopods.  -     The  Salpidae  and  Doliolidac. 

HAROLD    HEATH.     Solenogaster.  H.  B.  WARD.     The  Sipunculids. 

Reports  on  the  Scientific  Results  of  the  Expedition  to  the  Tropical  Pacific,  in  charge  of 
ALEXANDER  AGASSI/:,  on  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  Steamer  "Albatross,"  from  August, 
1899,  to  March,  1900,  Commander  Jefferson  F.  Moser,  U.  S.  N.,  Commanding,  as 
follows:  — 

R.  V.  CHAMBERLIN.     The  Annelids.  MARY    J.    RATHBUN.       The    Crustacea 

H.  L.  CLARK.     The  Holothurians.  Decapoda. 

IT    T     ^i»i>i-      TU     n  u-  G.  O.  SARS.     The  Copepods. 

H.  I,  CLARK.     The  Oph.urans.  L   STEJNEGER      The  Reptiles. 

C.  H.    TOWNSEND.          The     Momin.-ils. 

-     The  Coralliferous  Limestones.  nirdS)  and  Fishe9. 

S.  HENSHAW.     The  Insects.  T.  W.    VAUGHAN.     The    Corals,    Recent 

G.  W.  MtiLLER.     The  Ostracods.  and  Fossil. 


MUSEU 


DATE  DUE 


There  have  1: 
Vols.  LVIII.  to 
Yols.  XXXVI.  tc 

Vols.  LV., 
XXXV.,  XXX 
now  in  course  of 

The  Bn.LKTr 
original  work  by 
on  by  students  a 
History,  and  of  W 
tious  and  Explon 


The  following  ] 


lie-ports  on  the  Hesu 
Alexander  Agas 
Commander  C. 
I  .  S.  N.,  Comm 

Reports  on  tlie  Rosul 
Steamer  "Albati 
i  nanding,  in  chin 

Reports  on  the  Scienl 
charge  of  Alexai 
•'Albatross,"  froi 
Moser,  C.  S.  N., 

Jtcports  on  the  Seien 
Pacific,  in  charge 
Steamer  ". \lbat 
mander  I..  M.  (la 

Contributions  from  the 

Contributions  from  the 


These  |inlilirttini_        ,    „. ~m  nuniDers  at     irregular    intervals. 

Kaeh  number  of  the  Bulletin  and  of  the  Memoirs  is  sold  sepanitely. 
A  price  list  of  the  publications  of  the  Museum  will  be  sent  on  appli- 
cation to  the  Director  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  /oology, 
Cambridge,  Mass. 


LIBRARV  FACILITY 


